NATMAPtopsoiltexture is a new product derived from the National Soil Map. It provides users with a useful, concise, easily interpreted and applicable description of the range of texture classes typical across England and Wales.

Key Facts and Statistics about NATMAPtopsoiltexture

Simplified rendition of the national soil map;

21 distinct classes

Who and what is this useful for?

NATMAPtopsoiltexture is useful for anyone wanting generalised and simple-to-understand information of the topsoil soil texture at a 1:250,000 scale. The topsoil texture dataset allows the user to explore the likely spatial variation of the dominant and subdominant texture classes across England and Wales. This variation can be used as input into environmental models which are influenced by the textural composition of the soil matrix. As this is a simplified dataset, it may or may not represent the soil texture at any given location.

How was this map derived?

For each soil series represented on the National Soil Map the topsoil texture class was determined from the particle size distribution and organic carbon data held in the HORIZONfundamentals dataset. This data was then compared to the definition of each soil series given in TM17 "Criteria for differentiating soil series" as the topsoil texture is a defining characteristic of soil series. Where differences between the defined topsoil texture and the calculated class arose these were examined by a soil expert and where necessary the calculated classes were altered to better reflect the known properties of the soil series. Once each soil series was assigned to a topsoil texture class the proportions of each soil series within the soil associations represented on the National Soil map was used to determine the dominant soil texture and the proportions of each texture class.